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Christmas

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Original poster

When do you open your presents?

45 replies

joelallie · 11/10/2006 10:54

We open out main presents after lunch. The kids have stockings with little pressies on their beds to open as soon as they wake up. But the big presents sit under the tree until after lunch. It started when I was a child and we always had a posh breakfast on Christmas morning - proper laid table with cloth and the best china etc, home-made milk rolls and home-made plum jam and real coffee. And then church and probably people back for a sherry before lunch. So no time before I suppose. It also means that it all lasts a bit longer. I love christmas with my kids but I do miss the slightly more special way we did christas as a child - everyone dressed up and everything done a bit more formally. DH wouldn't stand for it though .

In all my 41 years I've only met one other family that wait till after lunch.

Anyone else?

OP posts:
NatalieJane · 11/10/2006 10:55

Nope, as soon as we get downstairs the wrapping paper starts flying...

MaloryTowersPonceAndProud · 11/10/2006 10:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

scarymaryme · 11/10/2006 11:00

Christmas morning...first thing.
Although my dh and I opened all our pressies three days before xmas once cause we couldn't wait any longer! (before we had kids and had lots of money to spend on luxury self indulgant pressies!)

charliebat · 11/10/2006 11:01

Be finish getting the playmobil together at 3.30 and the kids get up half an hour later to see it!!!!!!!
The waiting is grim. Its one day a year. Why wait?

CountessDracula · 11/10/2006 11:02

We wait til after lunch as well

We always have done as my Dad's birthday is on Xmas day so it was always his bday in the morning and xmas in the afternoon. We still got our stockings first thing of course.

CountessDracula · 11/10/2006 11:03

Oh and we all loved the waiting! Something to look forward to after lunch

JackieNoHeadJustABloodyStump · 11/10/2006 11:03

When I was little we all had to wait for the main presents till after the Queen's speech. We are a bit more relaxed, but try to spin out opening things over the whole day, well, at least until mid-afternoon.

Original poster
joelallie · 11/10/2006 11:20

But it's not crap for kids! It's more exciting. We never minded 'cos we'd always done it that way and mine don't mind either.

OP posts:
Bozza · 11/10/2006 11:22

We open ours first thing. But then because we visit both families during the day the presents just keep on coming. I love it...

LiliLaTigresse · 11/10/2006 11:23

At my parents, where we all try to be for Xmas, it's first thing in the morning, everybody has to be up, and lined up in size order, and Xmas music has to be on (always the same song in fact)
I love it

Spidermama · 11/10/2006 11:24

We all had to have breakfast, clean up and tidy up before opening presents. Then we sat round the tree and took it in turns to open presents and watch each other. I liked this because it was calm(ish) and meant there was time to think about the people who'd sent the presents and to write down who'd given what for the purposes of thankyou letters.

My dh, on the other hand, thinks it's weird and puts too much emphasis on the present part of christmas. Last year we didn't do my way, for the first time, and it was mayhem of the kids diving in and ripping open presents one after the other barely looking at the contents. It was an unpleasant frenzy of commercialism and greed. We didn't know who had sent what and loads of things were lost and broken.

So I prefer my way. But the presents thing does seem to dominate which is a bit yuk!

KTeepee · 11/10/2006 11:25

Presents are unwrapped as soon as we awake her - in fact that's quite late for my family. When we were little we always opened family presents on Christmas Eve (I think started because my sister was so excited one year it was the only way to contain her before Christmas Day itself...) and now that Father Christmas no longer visits my siblings, that's when they open all of theirs now.

JodieG1 · 11/10/2006 11:26

We open the presents on Christmas morning. Grandparents bring their presents with them or leave them under the tree but we wait to open them until they arrive which is usually quite early anyway. Wouldn't want to wait until after lunch as I don't think it's fair on the kids. We usually don't eat dinner until about 3pm either as I cook a huge turkey with all the trimmings and it takes ages to prepare everything!

busybusymum · 11/10/2006 11:27

We unwrap after breakfast on christmas day

KathyMCMLXXII · 11/10/2006 11:28

Stockings first thing (dd will have her first stocking this year - so exciting!) and then presents when everyone is up, dressed & breakfasted and dinner is basically prepared and in the oven.

Agree that the waiting makes it more exciting (and you have your stocking stuff to play with anyway).

People who do presents in bed, doesn't that mean that not everyone in the family is there to watch? I can't imagine grandparents, uncles etc all piling into someone's bedroom.

ProfYaffle · 11/10/2006 11:29

In my family we were doing well if we got to breakfast time! When I was small I was known to get up at 3am, open prezzies, go back to bed and leave mayhem for my Mum and Dad when they got up!

I spent xmas with the IL's last year and they wait til after lunch and then open a few at a time, kids play with new toys for a bit, then open some more. Much to my surprise I preferred it, much calmer and kids seems to appreciate prezzies more.

eidsvold · 11/10/2006 11:30

open stockings when we get up - christmas day.

have scrummy breakfast

open the rest of immediate family presents

get with extended family, open other presents.

KathyMCMLXXII · 11/10/2006 11:30

LiliLaTigresse - 'lined up in size order'?!
I'm struggling to imagine this - it sounds like the Von Trapp family from the Sound of Music.
But I agree that it is lovely when things are the same every year.

Original poster
joelallie · 11/10/2006 11:34

kathy - we open stocking in bed. Kids grab theirs and bring them into our bed. Granny and grandpa not there at the time

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yeahinaminute · 11/10/2006 11:56

We open ours on Christmas Eve .... Only because we have always done that since I were a nipper !!Tradition is - big family meal ( Gammon, cheesy spuds, parsley sauce etc ) and then pressies and then Midnight Mass.

But the one's from Father Christmas are opened on on Christmas morn at sparrows fart with bed hair and PJ's in the sitting room

Can't wait !!

CheesyFeetcomingtoGETyou · 11/10/2006 13:17

We used to be allowed to open one after midnight mass and then up with the larks to open the rest whilst eating the mountain of bacon butties lovingly supplied by my Mum

I'm no longer a churchgoer so we open them all through the course of Christmas Day morning.

The afternoon is for sleeping on the sofa, more stuffed than the turkey

jessicaandrebeccasmummy · 11/10/2006 13:20

Stockings when everyone awake and downstairs

Washed and dressed

Posh breakfast

Church

Presents

Lunch

Sleep!

RTKangaMummy · 11/10/2006 13:24

Stockings are when we get up but are done in bed iyswim

Main presents are after lunch after all the washing up and clearing up is done

The same as it was when I was a child

Original poster
joelallie · 11/10/2006 13:27

"The afternoon is for sleeping on the sofa, more stuffed than the turkey"

Oooh no no no....that is DH's family's way of doing things! Preferably with a tub of Quality Street. In our house, once the pressies were opened it was out for a nice brisk walk to make room for tea, christmas cake, mince pies I don't get the kids out on a forced march (would if I thought there was any chance that they'd come) but I do get distinctly antsy and restless about 4ish..... Old habits die hard .

Actually DH'a family are very very good at sitting on their ars*s and doing bugger all. Not just on Christmas day. They could make it into an Olympic sport. We go to visit MIL when DH's sister is staying and that is all we do. Kids get bored and so do I. Been to visit other rellies in East London and loads of other local members of extended family pop in to see us....and we all just sit around ...for bloody hours!!!! Weird. But sorry...I guess this is a rant for elsewhere

OP posts:
Original poster
joelallie · 11/10/2006 13:28

Yay! Kanga! That makes 3 of us so far (I think).

Good I can tell DH that I'm not the only freak

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